TAHRAN/ANKARA (A.A) - Turkish Industry and Trade Minister NihatErgun said Tuesday that the current intra-trade volume among the D-8 did notreflect the true trade potential.Addressing the Industry Ministers meeting of the D-8 countries in Tehran,Ergun said Turkey did not only care about its trade volume with D-8 members, butalso cared about the trade volume among other D-8 members.Ergun emphasized that the wind of change in the 21st century brought downcustom barriers, redefined economic and political boundaries, and forced staticstructures to constantly change and made it a must for countries to seek dynamicpolicies. He said countries which realised these facts began to open theirnational economies to the world, diversified their products and followed policiestrying to gain the upper hand in the global competition.Ergun said promoting competitiveness was not a task members could undertakealone noting that it required economic cooperation and regional economicalliances. He said the government embraced such a perspective towards the D-8which represented a wide hinterland with a population of one billion, adding thatthey attached great importance to enhancing their relations with D-8 members.He said economic development would bring higher representation for D-8 inpolitical platforms and greater participation in global decision makingmechanisms.Ergun said Turkey's trade volume with D-8 countries rose from USD 2.9billion to USD 13 billion under the Justice and Development Party rule. He saidconsidering the true potential of the D-8 this volume was not enough.Ergun pointed out that D-8 countries ranked somewhere between the 23rd and137th place, out of 183 countries, in the World Bank's"Doing Business"2010report, a ranking of convenience of countries for making business. He said thiswas not satisfactory for any of the D-8 members.He said this report alone proved that G-8 countries had a long way to go inpromoting their competitiveness, enhancing their investment environment, andcreating welfare for their peoples.He said, he believed the Tehran declaration which will be adopted at theconclusion of the meeting would further promote the cooperation among thecountries, and help develop constructive dialogue especially in the field ofindustry.(OZG-CE)

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